Brexit: Theresa May to reveal details of Brexit 'new deal' following cabinet meeting
The PM prepares for another go at winning over MPs to back her withdrawal agreement after three-hour talks with ministers.
Tuesday 21 May 2019 14:40, UK
Theresa May will reveal details of her "new deal" on Brexit in a speech later today, following three-hour talks with her senior ministers.
The prime minister spent Tuesday morning attempting to sell what she has termed a "bold" new offer to her cabinet, as she prepares a fourth attempt at winning approval for her EU withdrawal agreement.
Ministers met in Downing Street to consider the prime minister's fresh package, which she will present to MPs in draft legislation next month.
Mrs May has already failed three times to win the backing of the House of Commons for her Brexit agreement, while cross-party talks with Labour on a compromise deal broke down last week.
She is expected to introduce the Withdrawal Agreement Bill (WAB) to MPs in the week beginning 3 June.
The "new deal" includes pledges on workers' rights, environmental protections and provisions in case the Irish border backstop arrangement is implemented, Downing Street said after the cabinet meeting.
Mrs May will set out further details in a speech at 4pm, having told her cabinet ministers: "The Withdrawal Agreement Bill is the vehicle which gets the UK out of the EU and it is vital to find a way to get it over the line."
Mrs May's official spokesman revealed the cabinet talks covered the "whole range of topics" related to the WAB, including customs arrangements and a second EU referendum.
The meeting was "characterised by a shared determination to find a way of passing the WAB so that the UK can leave the EU with a deal", he said.
The spokesman admitted "Brexit is a topic which does carry strong opinions" and that these "are very often reflected around the cabinet table".
Prior to the cabinet meeting, the prime minister was sent a warning by a leading member of her cabinet to steer away from moving further on customs arrangements in a bid to secure the support of Labour MPs.
It had been speculated Mrs May was willing to offer Labour a customs union with the EU until the next general election during cross-party talks.
Leader of the House of Commons Andrea Leadsom stressed the WAB must "deliver Brexit" as she failed to confirm she would definitely vote in favour of the legislation.
Asked if she would be prepared to back the WAB at its second reading next month, Ms Leadsom told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "I will back something that remains Brexit."
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She added: "I have been very clear for years that leaving the EU means leaving the single market, leaving the customs union, taking back control of our money, borders and laws."
Ms Leadsom, who stood against Mrs May in 2016, is "preparing" to run for the Tory leadership again when the prime minister departs.
It is expected a fourth defeat for Mrs May's Brexit deal will spell the end of her premiership, while she has already pledged to hand over to a successor before the second phase of Brexit negotiations on the future UK-EU relationship.
The prime minister agreed a further delay to Brexit, to 31 October, following the third defeat for her withdrawal agreement.
Asked whether she could embrace a no-deal Brexit as part of her leadership pitch to Conservative MPs, Ms Leadsom said: "What I do think is that for any negotiation to succeed, you have to be prepared to walk away.
"And, in addition, the default position - the legal default position - is that on 31 October the UK leaves the EU without a deal.
"I would like us to have a deal, I think it's very important that we do.
"But in the event that we get to the end of October and it's not possible to get a deal, I think leaving the EU is the most important thing of all - delivering on the will of the people."
Later, Chancellor Philip Hammond continued his attack on proponents of a no-deal Brexit, as he delivered a warning of the economic impact of leaving the EU without a divorce agreement.
He told the Commons: "I didn't come into politics in order to make our economy smaller."
Mrs May is facing a further headache in succeeding at the fourth attempt to get her Brexit deal approved, as Tory Brexiteers suggested they could once again vote against her agreement, despite having backed it at the third Commons vote in March.
Jacob Rees-Mogg, the chair of the European Research Group (ERG of Conservative eurosceptics, claimed the "dynamic is very different" than before Easter, when he eventually backed the prime minister's deal.
He told the ConservativeHome website: "Mrs May's deal is a very bad deal, let's make no bones about that.
"So, as we've already delayed, it's hard to see any point in having a bill which fails to avoid the European elections, fails to get us out on time, fails to get the process going in the way that might have worked with a new leader coming in - because Mrs May said, if it went through, she would go.
"It's rather changed from being the start of a process that a new leader could potentially run with, to the prime minister's position being such that this is then a weight round the neck of a new leader who would be saddled with this piece of legislation regardless."